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Fast Ferry Cuts 30 Seconds on Run of 572 Feet

Fast ferries have been much in the news these days, especially on
the Vineyard, but here is a fresh question to ponder: What happens when
a ferry that plies what is arguably the shortest route in the world
suddenly becomes faster?

Of course the answer is simple enough - the ferry gets there
faster. On the Chappaquiddick ferry this means a route that now takes
about two minutes has now been shortened by about 30 seconds.

But in fact ferry owner Roy Hayes says speed was not the main
motivation when he recently replaced the engine in the On Time 3, one of
two three-car barges that operate as the Chappaquiddick ferry.

Mr. Hayes says they no longer make the old 135-horsepower Ford
diesel engine that has propelled the On Time 3 for the last 10 years.

So Mr. Hayes replaced the old Ford with a new John Deere 225
horsepower engine.

"I've been debating this for a couple of years; parts
were becoming very expensive and I've already rebuilt the engine
once," says Mr. Hayes, who does nearly all of the maintenance on
the ferries himself. He says the Chappy ferry, which runs every day of
the year across the narrow channel that is the entrance to the Edgartown
harbor, logs about 53,000 hours annually. Mr. Hayes is accustomed to
rebuilding the engine every 25,000 hours.

The new John Deere engine is not only faster but it's also
more fuel efficient. "We are burning a third less fuel than we did
before," Mr. Hayes says.

But he says the real reason more power is important on the Chappy
ferry is not speed, but maneuverability in wind and strong tides.
"We should be able to operate better in severe weather because it
gives us more push - you need a lot of power to turn that boat
against a hard-running tide in a northeast wind," Mr. Hayes says.

Mr. Hayes says the four regular captains are happy not only with the
new power but with the new noise - or make that a lack of noise.
The new John Deere engine is noticeably more quiet than the noisy old
Ford. "The captains really enjoy it, they are very, very happy
with it," Mr. Hayes says.

The engine conversion cost about $30,000. The work took about five
days with a small crew led by Mr. Hayes.

"It's just reliability and comfort and a little more
power when you need it - it has nothing to do with getting more
trips in," Mr. Hayes says. "We actually need the power
off-season when the weather turns bad."

Numbers tell a good part of the story. The Chappaquiddick ferry
travels a route that is 572 feet across the channel. During a short and
informal timing exercise on board the ferry this week, the fastest time
logged was 58 seconds at slack tide on an empty ferry with Capt. Kim
Morse at the helm. The longest time logged was 87 seconds with two cars
on board at mid-tide with Capt. Charlie Ross at the helm. A middle time
of 66 seconds was logged at slack tide with two cars on board and Capt.
Robert Gilkes at the helm.

Unfortunately the random timing exercise missed all the shifts of
Capt. Brad Fligor. And for the record, Captain Morse obliged a request
for more speed and opened up the throttle a little, while Captain Ross
reacted somewhat mischievously to the same request, pulling back on the
throttle to slow the boat down a little.

Using the time recorded during Captain Morse's shift, the
speed of the newly powered Chappy ferry is 5.84 knots, or 6.724 miles
per hour, or 118.27 inches per second. Mach speed is 0.009.